County has tight office space
Butler County employees are running out of space.
With offices squeezed into the nooks and crannies of the government center and courthouse, workers are doubling up in cubicles while boxes are stored in offices and hallways.
County Commissioner Dale Pinkerton, board chairman, said the issue of diminishing office space must be addressed.
“There is no doubt we need to start looking at options to help employees do a better job for the residents of Butler County,” he said.
Because county officials during the past year have been discussing what to do about the situation, the Butler Eagle recently toured the county buildings along Diamond Street to check out the office space.
Human services and court services are the hardest hit.
Carmine Scotece, director of county human services, said space started becoming scarce about eight years ago as state and federally mandated programs increased the number of employees.
“We took on more services,” he said.
In mental health/mental retardation office on the second floor of the government center, one cubicle uses a curtain as a door. The department's staff is split between two buildings. While fiscal operations officer Ann Brown is in the government center, her staff is in the courthouse.
Due to space considerations, Children and Youth Services outsource some fieldwork.Joyce Ainsworth, CYS director, said outside companies go to the homes of CYS children.“They'll do some visits for case management,” she said.But what isn't outsourced is the paperwork and court appearances.Vacant rooms are hard to come by in the government center. “We struggle for places to meet,” Ainsworth said.One counter-shaped desk is used by interns and employees of outside agencies.“It's a dance to make it all work,” Ainsworth said.As in mental health, some cubicles use curtains to provide some measure of privacy.“It is a treat to get an office with a door,” Ainsworth said.A former closet is now an office.Karianne Sarnese, a CYS caseworker supervisor, couldn't find enough room to review a number of documents, so she was using the carpeted floor of her office during the tour.The employee men's room became a drug testing room. The men now use the public restroom in the hall.Ainsworth said the state requires CYS to keep children's records for five years before sending them to the Iron Mountain underground storage facility. Because of that, numerous boxes of documents must be kept in Butler.In the courthouse section of CYS, a meeting room across the hall from courtroom 6 is stuffed with paperwork.With the windows set low, this room seems to be designed for short people. Employees have dubbed this alcove as the Hobbit Room.
Under court services, domestic relations on the lower level of the government center squeezes in more than three times the number of people occupying a comparable fifth floor office where 10 people work.“It's the same footprint as the commissioners office,” said Tom Holman, deputy court administrator, about domestic relations. “(But) there are 36 down here.”In domestic relations, a lunchroom became a storeroom.Betsy Larnino, family court administrator, said paperwork is kept everywhere. “We're overrun with boxes,” she said.Larnino said it's a struggle to have confidential discussions.“We really don't have sufficient space to talk to clients privately,” she said.
Although juvenile court services has more breathing room than it did before office renovations were done last year in the lowest level, more space would be handy.Holman said the courtroom for juvenile cases has no waiting room.“Often times, they're waiting in the hallway,” he said.Holman stressed the need to have separate areas for victims and witnesses apart from where perpetrators enter and exit the courtroom.Office space also is at a premium in juvenile probation.A desk is in a kitchen. Another room built to be a lunchroom serves as a place for storage.
Adult probation has taken over the bottom floor of the city tier garage, and that rental costs the county roughly $97,000 annually.Bill O'Donnell, chief county clerk, said the goal is to have a new site for adult probation once the garage lease expires in 2013.“Our objective is to bring adult and juvenile probation back together,” O'Donnell said.
He said the county could rent office space to solve the problem, but there is another option.“The best scenario is a new building,” he said.Pinkerton stressed the likelihood of a new structure depends on county finances.“We do it on the budget we can afford,” he said about creating more office space.But if the county builds at the site of the former prison on Vogely Street and moves human services there, part of the cost would be paid by the state.Scotece said the state, which mandates county programs, funds a percentage of utility costs for buildings housing county human services as well as a portion of the mortgage payments.“We carry a fair share of the cost,” he said.When the county pays off the debt on the government center in 2012, the state reimbursements will shrink.However, if human services are relocated to a new building, the state will continue funding a higher amount.Pinkerton pointed out the county also would allot the nearly $100,000 now being paid to rent the space in the tier garage for the mortgage of a new building.Ainsworth said whichever step the commissioners take, human services will stay in the same building. “No matter what we do, we want to stick together,” she said.Holman said juvenile court services and adult probation would move to the second floor of the government center if human services are moved.Commissioner Jim Lokhaiser agreed the constraints on office space must be alleviated. “That's an absolute need,” he said.Lokhaiser supports the construction of a new building if it's financially feasible.He said the ability to draw on state funding for housing human services in the new building makes the idea possible.“It would probably pay for itself eventually,” he said about a new office building.Commissioner James Kennedy concurred there is a lack of office space.“I think we're going to have to address it,” he said.However, he said everything depends on the state budget.Kennedy said the county staff may be increased if the state sets new mandated programming.He said if the state cuts programs, however, there would be the opposite effect: reducing the number of workers.“We might re-evaluate staffing,” he said.Kennedy pointed out such a scenario would result in space being freed up.Pinkerton agreed the county must wait for the state budget to be finalized before moving forward with any plans, particularly a new building.“It's only in the talking stages,” he said.
